Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Warming up to the Romance Trilogy: A Review
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Nicholas Potter" data-source="post: 7771855" data-attributes="member: 6979489"><p>February is a month of cold temperatures and warm feelings of love and romance. If you’re looking for something to do with friends when it’s too cold to go out, why not stay in and take a look at the <strong>Romance Trilogy</strong>? [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]</p><p></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH]104673[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>A compilation of three games (and much more besides) written by designer Emily Care Boss, the <strong>Romance Trilogy</strong> includes <strong>Breaking the Ice</strong>, a game for two players about a new couple going on three different dates; <strong>Shoot the Moon</strong>, a three-player game about two suitors competing for the affection of an idealized beloved; and <strong>Under My Skin</strong>, a four-to-eight player live-action roleplaying game about infidelity in established relationships.</p><p> </p><p>Besides the three main games, Boss saw fit to include a plethora of supplemental material in the compilation. Sitting at 373 pages, the book contains hacks and mods for each game, either providing guidance for changing the number of players or changing the core assumptions of the games entirely. <strong>Shoot the Moon</strong>, for example, supports two-players instead of the normal three, while <strong>Breaking the Ice</strong> can handle up to ten with modifications included in the book. Additionally, both of those games include alternate rules for playing “man vs nature” scenarios, allowing for a very interesting look at the ways a game can be cleverly hacked to suit different purposes. </p><p> </p><p>Game mechanics aside, roleplaying romance can be a very difficult thing. Emotional vulnerability requires a great deal of finesse and care from all those involved, especially when dealing with more sensitive subject matter like infidelity in <strong>Under My Skin</strong>. Thankfully, Boss is sure to include constant reminders, gently but firmly, to establish boundaries and ground rules for those participating. The text instructs participants to preemptively establish what level of physical contact is acceptable, what subject matter shouldn’t be brought up, and to keep an eye out for discomfort and be ready to put the brakes on any scene that’s going too far.</p><p> </p><p>In addition to these inclusions of desirable metagame behavior, the book also includes references to several meta-techniques to be used by the players and, if applicable, the director. This is part game, part improvisational theater, and Boss goes to impressive lengths guide those playing towards techniques that will help tell the type of stories these games are about. Players are encouraged - and in some cases, required - to act on knowledge their characters lack in order to create tension or comedy through dramatic irony. Players are all encouraged to make suggestions for scenes as they unfold, even if they aren’t direct participants. These games trust their participants to all act as directors or game masters, to some degree, and guides them into doing just that.</p><p> </p><p>As a final bonus inclusion, several “companion games” were included after the main trilogy. These companion games are like the hacks and mods mentioned before, but each one includes such significant additions that they change the entire way the game is played along with the core assumptions of each one. From a strictly guided, on-rails improvisation exercise where players act out scenes from Arthurian legend to a pseudo-wargame about love triangles between bitter enemies to more besides, there is more extra content included here than anyone could expect from any one product.</p><p> </p><p>There <em>are </em>a few blemishes on the product itself. There were plenty of typos and poorly edited sentences, as well as quite a bit of redundancy in the explanations of the rules. But these editing issues are relatively minor, and never even come close to making the book unreadable or the games unplayable.</p><p> </p><p>Looking at the <strong>Romance Trilogy</strong> as a whole, it’s an exceptional product. The reader is promised three games about romance, and gets all that and more. Give it a look, and try to get some friends together to play. Who knows? You might just find some romance of your own in the process.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #3E3E3E"><em>This article was contributed by <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/member.php?6979489-Nicholas-Potter" target="_blank">Nicholas Potter</a> as part of EN World's Columnist (ENWC) program. If you enjoy the daily news and articles from EN World, please consider <a href="https://www.patreon.com/enworld" target="_blank">contributing to our Patreon!</a></em></span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nicholas Potter, post: 7771855, member: 6979489"] February is a month of cold temperatures and warm feelings of love and romance. If you’re looking for something to do with friends when it’s too cold to go out, why not stay in and take a look at the [B]Romance Trilogy[/B]? [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] [CENTER][ATTACH=CONFIG]104673[/ATTACH][/CENTER] A compilation of three games (and much more besides) written by designer Emily Care Boss, the [B]Romance Trilogy[/B] includes [B]Breaking the Ice[/B], a game for two players about a new couple going on three different dates; [B]Shoot the Moon[/B], a three-player game about two suitors competing for the affection of an idealized beloved; and [B]Under My Skin[/B], a four-to-eight player live-action roleplaying game about infidelity in established relationships. Besides the three main games, Boss saw fit to include a plethora of supplemental material in the compilation. Sitting at 373 pages, the book contains hacks and mods for each game, either providing guidance for changing the number of players or changing the core assumptions of the games entirely. [B]Shoot the Moon[/B], for example, supports two-players instead of the normal three, while [B]Breaking the Ice[/B] can handle up to ten with modifications included in the book. Additionally, both of those games include alternate rules for playing “man vs nature” scenarios, allowing for a very interesting look at the ways a game can be cleverly hacked to suit different purposes. Game mechanics aside, roleplaying romance can be a very difficult thing. Emotional vulnerability requires a great deal of finesse and care from all those involved, especially when dealing with more sensitive subject matter like infidelity in [B]Under My Skin[/B]. Thankfully, Boss is sure to include constant reminders, gently but firmly, to establish boundaries and ground rules for those participating. The text instructs participants to preemptively establish what level of physical contact is acceptable, what subject matter shouldn’t be brought up, and to keep an eye out for discomfort and be ready to put the brakes on any scene that’s going too far. In addition to these inclusions of desirable metagame behavior, the book also includes references to several meta-techniques to be used by the players and, if applicable, the director. This is part game, part improvisational theater, and Boss goes to impressive lengths guide those playing towards techniques that will help tell the type of stories these games are about. Players are encouraged - and in some cases, required - to act on knowledge their characters lack in order to create tension or comedy through dramatic irony. Players are all encouraged to make suggestions for scenes as they unfold, even if they aren’t direct participants. These games trust their participants to all act as directors or game masters, to some degree, and guides them into doing just that. As a final bonus inclusion, several “companion games” were included after the main trilogy. These companion games are like the hacks and mods mentioned before, but each one includes such significant additions that they change the entire way the game is played along with the core assumptions of each one. From a strictly guided, on-rails improvisation exercise where players act out scenes from Arthurian legend to a pseudo-wargame about love triangles between bitter enemies to more besides, there is more extra content included here than anyone could expect from any one product. There [I]are [/I]a few blemishes on the product itself. There were plenty of typos and poorly edited sentences, as well as quite a bit of redundancy in the explanations of the rules. But these editing issues are relatively minor, and never even come close to making the book unreadable or the games unplayable. Looking at the [B]Romance Trilogy[/B] as a whole, it’s an exceptional product. The reader is promised three games about romance, and gets all that and more. Give it a look, and try to get some friends together to play. Who knows? You might just find some romance of your own in the process. [COLOR=#3E3E3E][I]This article was contributed by [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/member.php?6979489-Nicholas-Potter"]Nicholas Potter[/URL] as part of EN World's Columnist (ENWC) program. If you enjoy the daily news and articles from EN World, please consider [URL="https://www.patreon.com/enworld"]contributing to our Patreon![/URL][/I][/COLOR] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Warming up to the Romance Trilogy: A Review
Top